


No one will say it, but you.

by isoldembd



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isoldembd/pseuds/isoldembd
Summary: The notes Hermann and Newt write to each other, and the love story that follows.





	No one will say it, but you.

Over ten years of working within 50 feet of each other, Hermann and Newt naturally developed a rhythm. Not only do they bicker to pass the time and have a little childish fun, they found a way to communicate with each other when spoken words just didn’t seem to cut it.

The first note Hermann ever left Newt was three years into their lab partnership. Newt can never seem to keep his thoughts linear, something Hermann learned very quickly, so it’s way too easy for him to forget things. Things that would seem easy to keep on your mental checklist like eating or sleeping, always seem to slip out of Newt’s mind when he delves into a new project or theory. Hermann had noticed that it had been a couple days since he’d seen Newt even go near the cafeteria, let alone put sustenance into his body, so Hermann gets a little yellow sticky note and writes “Eat something.” on it and leaves it stuck to Newt’s science journal. 

When Newt walked back into the lab from his bathroom break, he looked at the note, looked at Hermann (with Hermann looking completely unawares and minding his business) and left the lab. He came back with a plate of spaghetti and a Coke. 

Hermann had finally figured out how to get through to Newt without all of the shouting.

~~~

Newt liked the little notes he knew Hermann left across the lab. He always knew his mile-a-minute thinking would get him in trouble, so the gentle reminders to drink water or get some sleep helped him stay upright. Hermann didn’t need reminders like that, he always seemed slightly better at taking care of himself. Only slightly. Hermann’s biggest fault was that he worked too hard, which sounds great for a job application, but when it comes to learning to sit down and cater to a damaged leg, he never understood the importance.

As Hermann would keep an eye out for when the last time it was Newt drank water, Newt would do the same for when the last time was Hermann sat down and put ice on his leg or massaged it to keep down the swelling. 

After seeing Hermann run around his half of the lab and climbing up and down the ladder attached to his chalkboard for several hours, Newt knew his leg must’ve been absolutely killing him. How he fought through the pain and kept his mind focused on only numbers, Newt had no idea. So, of course, when Hermann left to find some new chalk, Newt took out his star shaped blue sticky notes and wrote “Sit down and take a break or I’ll make you,” and stuck it smack in the middle of his chalkboard.

Hermann came back, read the note, sighed, and begrudgingly shuffled over to his desk chair. He proceeded to continue his equations via a notepad and pen at his desk.

~~~

It went on like this for years, the little friendly, or not so friendly, reminders to not kill yourself over your work. But sometimes, it would be a reminder to not forget that science and math isn’t everything. That people care about you and that you’re good enough even if your equation doesn’t pan out like it should.

Hermann was a perfectionist at best, meaning he would rather die than admit he got something wrong. He had been working through a problem over and over for weeks, getting increasingly more frustrated at every wrong answer, every miscalculation, not understanding what the issue was. It had gotten to the point where he was throwing chalk and snapping pencils when he would come up short, grumbling to himself about never being wrong and how could this happen everything is correct, I’ve checked it a hundred bloody times!

Newt had let this go on for long enough, he couldn’t have Hermann putting the lab at risk just because his precious numbers weren’t agreeing with him. Mostly, he hated seeing Hermann so upset over something that wasn’t hardly as important as his emotional state.

So, as had become routine, when the other stepped away from their workspace, they would come back with a sticky note with something important scribbled on it.

Hermann was pacing around his desk, doing calculations in his head, in a daze, not aware of the outside world. Newt took this opportunity to whip out his star shaped blue sticky notes and write, “You are more than your work. Your shortcomings don’t determine your worth. Xoxo, your concerned lab buddy.” 

Newt strided over to Hermann, put his hand on his shoulder stopping him in his tracks, stuck the star on his sweater vest and walked back to his Kaiju remains. 

Hermann, looking slightly shocked but mostly annoyed, peeled the note off and read it. A look of deep thought was held on his face for a moment before he took the star and stuck it on his computer monitor. A constant reminder that someone else cares and that it’s okay to fail sometimes.

Newt smiled to himself, knowing he did good.

 

~~~

After that, they graduated to motivational quotes whenever the other looked particularly down in the dumps.

The Kaiju attacks were just getting more and more devastating, the damage seeming more and more irreversible, and Newt started wondering why they were even trying to fight anymore. It seemed like every step they took forward, the Kaiju would push them three steps back. It would take years for them to even make a dent in their alien defenses and he didn’t know if he could keep up his confidence in work that was becoming obsolete.

“The Kaiju attacks are devastating more cities than can be rebuilt. The third attack this year leaves Seattle in shock and wondering: When will the fighting stop? More at 5,” the news anchor seems to question Newt directly.

He shuts off the TV and sulks back to his desk. He twiddles around with his pen, then lays his head against the desk in obvious defeat. What’s the point anymore? Maybe he could just sleep through the apocalypse, that way no one would blame him for not saving the world. 

Hermann is not one for giving up. Being raised as a mathematician, he knew there was always an answer to everything, no matter how difficult or impossible the problem may seem to solve.

He walks over to Newt and sticks a note to his head, giving him a little smack just to really convey his annoyance with this defeatist attitude. Newt looks up and extracts the note from his hair. It reads, “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” 

Hermann gives Newt a knowing look at turns back to his work.

Newt picks up his gloves and goes back to his Kaiju lung, more determined that before.

 

~~~

After the apocalypse is cancelled, everything returns to normal, whatever that is. The Shatterdome starts shutting down, all of the workers going home, finding new jobs, the Jaegars, or what remains of them, get put into storage, and Newt and Hermann start packing up their equipment. It’s late at night, those left in the dome sleeping in their quarters, Newt and Hermann silently filling boxes with textbooks, pickled Kaiju parts, old pieces of memorabilia. It’s sad. This was their home for months, they have come to know it so well. Their cramped metal rooms, the shitty cafeteria food, the late nights and early mornings of research. It all became so comfortable, and now...it’s all a memory. 

Hermann finishes packing his stuff up first, grabbing his jacket off of his chair and slips passed Newt, headed back to his room to get some sleep before he has to decide where he’s headed to next.  
He lays his jacket down across his bed and a small blue star falls onto the floor.  
Hermann picks it up, already knowing it’s some silly little quote or some reminder like don’t forget to shower, you reek.  
But when Hermann flips it over to read the note on the other side, he goes still.  
It says, it Newt’s horrible doctor handwriting,  
“You were the best part of the world almost ending. I wouldn’t have traded any second of it for anything.  
P.S. I would never tell you, but I was falling in love.”

Hermann rereads the note twenty times over before deciding, yes, this was in fact written by Newton, and yes, he’s in love with cranky old Hermann.  
Hermann stands still for a long time before remembering a note he once wrote to Newt when he couldn’t decide between toast or cereal for breakfast, “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.”

Hermann busts out of his room, and runs, as best he can, back to the lab. He crashes in, gasping for air almost doubled over.

“Herm? What the hell are you doing, man. I promise your books aren’t going anywhere, they’re nice and safe in their box. No need to sprint down the hall for them.” Newt continues absentmindedly piling jars into their boxes and deciding what to keep and what to toss out.

“Not--not them, you fool,” Hermann tries to say between hollow breaths, “I’ve come back for you!”

Newt laughs in confusion and looks at Hermann like he’s got four heads, “What, man? What does that even mean? Are you sure you’re feeling alright? Maybe all this dust is getting to your he--”

“No! Shut up, for once in your bloody life, Newton, shut up!” So, Newt shuts up and then he notices the blue note clutched in Hermann’s hand. 

“Oh, shit,” Newt whispers under his breath. He never meant for that note to be read while Hermann was still in the same country as him! He was hoping he would notice it while he was halfway over the Pacific Ocean, not standing twenty feet away from him in the same goddamn room!

Hermann hobbles over to Newt and looks him dead in the eyes, something they only do when they are in a bitter argument. 

“Newton,” is all Hermann can say. He just stands there holding up the crumpled note.

“Listen, Herm, I never meant for you to read that while I was here, man. I just wanted to slip it into your jacket, then you get on a plane and that would be that. Dude, I’m sorry, I never meant for any of this, I know what you’re going to say, ‘Newton you blasted fool, how could you think I could ever love you, you’re twitchy and loud and you think numbers are lame--” Hermann just stands there staring at him as he goes on and on, impersonating Hermann, and saying some very, very untrue things.  
Hermann never cared that Newt doesn’t like numbers, he doesn’t care that sometimes Newt screams when he’s excited or that he can’t seem to sit still. In fact, those are all reasons Hermann has come to lo--. Oh, god.

Hermann loves Newt, too.

Hermann sighs, the same way he does when Newt can’t seem to grasp something so simple. It’s a compassionate sigh like, ‘God, you’re so stupid, it’s almost sweet.’

“Newton, please. I’m not upset. I’m actually quite glad you gave it to me. Because--because, I feel the same...too.” Hermann looks away in embarrassment, getting slightly hot in the face.

“You, what? You did read the note, right? You know what it says? The whole ‘I’m in love with you’ thing?” Newt just looks at him in that sweet, sweet oblivious way that he’s so good at. 

“Yes, Newton. I read it all. Several times, in fact, and I do feel the same.” This time, Hermann ventures his eyes up to Newt’s face and sees the pure joy of a child. Oh, goodness, what has he gotten himself into.

Newt doesn’t say anything, just grabs Hermann by his lapels and lays a big kiss on his lips. Hermann drops his cane in surprise, but then wraps his arms around Newt’s waist, melting into the hold. Newt steps closer and puts his hands on Hermann’s cheeks, smiling into his lips. 

“Now, that’s something you could never write down,” Newt whispers. Hermann scoffs at the bad joke but goes back in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first newmann fic and i think it's super cute!!!!!!! i hope you enjoyed. i wrote it in like two hours, i was so inspired by this tumblr post http://capricious-soldes.tumblr.com/post/173258305560  
> i just had to write about it. thanks for reading <3


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